Chaparral's second-quarter burst stops Santa Margarita

MISSION VIEJO - Wilting against a bigger, more physical team, Santa Margarita gave up four touchdowns in the second quarter and was beaten by Chaparral of Temecula, 42-31, at Saddleback College on Friday.

The score was deceptively close as Santa Margarita (2-3) scored twice in the final 84 seconds against the Pumas' second team.

"We're not making plays," said Eagles Coach Mike Jacot, whose team trailed going into the fourth quarter, 35-10. "We've got ayoung team, and that's a good football team over there and they did a nice job. They probably wore us down a little bit."

Santa Margarita rushed only 32 yards, and that was with a 58-yard score by Spencer Tyson with 1:24 remaining. Quarterback Ryan World was sacked seven times, but finished with 207 yards passing.

Jonathan Diaz rushed 23 times for 199 yards and touchdowns of 59, 8 and 3 yards for Chaparral (3-1), which is coached by former Edison assistant Tom Leach. Chapparal has won three in a row since losing to Corona Centennial, 26-16.

The Pumas lost in last year's Inland semifinals to Centennial after reaching the Southern Section final in 2006.

Chaparral couldn't have been more impressive in the second quarter. It opened with a 70-yard drive, capped by Jonathan Diaz's 59-yard run, and ended the quarter with a 90-yard drive, capped by a 30-yard pass from Mitch Glasmann to Ronnie Kuan, who pulled in the ball after it deflected off defender AJ Cruz.

The middle touchdowns were short drives of 28 and 9 yards. The first was after a 6-yard punt, the second after a 41-yard interception returnby Kuan.

The night started well for Santa Margarita as Jack Cranston blocked Diaz' punt and David White returned it 7 yards to the Chaparral 14-yard-line. Six plays later, the Eagles' David White scored from 1 yard for a 7-0 lead.

But it was the last relevant score of the night.

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Contact the writer: preps@ocregister.com